Natascha Badmann: my inspiration for positive attitude and mental toughness

Shortly after I finished the Rev3Tri race, I met my hero – six time Ironman World Champion – Natascha Badmann. Here is a picture of my Trakkers teammate, Kelly, Natascha and me. Such a stroke of luck that Kelly’s husband was there with a camera! Thank you, Kelly!!!

As I wrote earlier, I sort of had an emotional breakdown after the race. I wish I had been able to have a real conversation with Natascha. I would have liked to ask her more about how her race went! And I would have liked to tell her how watching her on televised coverage of the Kona Ironman is such a true inspiration for positive attitude and mental toughness. In 2005 she sat in the penalty box for six minutes with a huge smile on her face, started the run ~15 minutes behind the leaders, and went on to WIN. In 2006 she completed the race in 10th place, despite serious GI issues. And in 2007 she broke her collarbone in a bike crash and kept riding through pain for a long time. Even when she had to stop her race, she was still smiling through tears. Natascha is just now coming back strong from that injury. I am very happy for her!

Her inspiration helped me get through the difficult Rev3Tri run. Despite that fact that the run course was so much hillier and harder than I expected, I kept up a positive attitude and stayed mentally strong. So many times I wanted to slack off and walk; or even revert to slog mode. But I stayed tough and I stayed positive and I kept running.